Stacking apparatus for confectionery casting trays



Feb. 25, 1964 G, STEELS 3,122,240

STACKING APPARATUS FOR CONFECTIONERY CASTING TRAYS Filed Sept. 25, 1960 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Affi/Z Ane-YS Feb. 25, 1964 G, STEELS 3,122,240

STACKING APPARATUS FOR CONFECTIONERY CASTING TRAYS Filed Sept. 26, 1960 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 #VVE/vra? d600/v 57221 5 Feb. 25, 1964 Filed Sept. 26, 1960 G. s'rEELs 3,122,240

STACKING APPARATUS FOR CONFECTIONERY CASTING TRAYS 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 #VVE/vrac 6a.@ paw 57ffAS Feb. 25, 1964 G, sTEELs 3,122,240

STACKING APPARATUS FOR CONFECTIONERY CASTING TRAYS Filed Sept. 26. 1960 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 s $5 2. 12 Y' il 7- l l 1 I '25*5 4 l l =30 5/ l ,1,11

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//V VEA/271 Mead/V .5751-25 M77e Aff/5 G. STEELS STACKING APPARATUS FOR CQNFECTIONERY CASTING TRAYS 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Sept. 26. 1960 United States Patent O rllis invention relates to apparatus for stacking trays, for example tnose used in confectionery casting and ernploying, for instance, powdered starch as the moulding rnediu.- after the sweet-forming material has been cast in the moulds in the trays, so as to orm tray stacks for urtner treatment in a drier. Such tray stacldng apparatus consists ot norizontal conveyor means which carries tne trays one after another from the depositor to an elevator conveyor bear vig spaced carriers which engage and i, each tray vertically, tbe elevator conveyor carrying tbe trays around and over a semi-circular path providing a top turning point and dov/u to a stacking station Where the trays are assembled in stacks of predetermined height. The elevator conveyor is driven in stepwise increments such that each step is equal to the pitch between one tray carrier the next and means are associated with the elevator conveyor to count up tbe trays as they are received so that when eacb stack is completed (i.e. the predetermined number of trays is reached), the stack is automatically ejected from tbe stacking apparatus by pusher acting on the lowermost tray of the stack, the stack having been built on a roller conveyor surface; when tbe next tray in the elevator conveyor circuit reaches the roller conveyor surface the next stack starts to build up and tbe process is repeated.

At the end o t'ne days Workr or on other occasions when tbe A at is shut dov/n, only a partial stack have been built this is elected from trie apparatus by operating a manual ejection control. On starting up ag however, tbe stacking apparatus will start to build up ne remaining part oi the stack which was not comup the rema- -ng stacl: bave been ed to elevator means, tbe automatic ejection operation will taire place and eject such trays as have been stacked. The number of trays actually stacked and ejected, however, is less than tile total number required to complete tbe balance oi the stack remaining trom t'ne previous run, since a number o tbe trays fed to the elevator will be still suspended in transit on tne elevator and will, consequence, not be eiected. These trays in transit will torni the beginning of tne next stack but Will not be counted by tbe machine, .vbieii will count the number of trays to make a full stack as and when they are fed to tbe elevator means, thus tbe next stack will contain too many trays by the number left in transit at tbe previous ejection.

The formation of an oversize stack this manner may cause the stack to foul the drier structure or, more particularly, the top or" the over-size stack may foul the next tray in transit on tbe elevator before the stack is ejected.

It is an object of tne present invention to provide an elevator drive and counting mechanism which cari be operated on starting up so as to prevent the above-de scribed misunctioniug by initially re-phasing the tray ifs l' ice counting mechanism with tbe correct build-up of the first full stack.

According to the present invention, in apparatus for stacking trays or the type indicated, there are provided, means for effecting and controlling tbe buildingup of stacks of trays of predetermined height comprising a constantly driving motor means, means for coupling the drive from said motor means to the elevator conveyor to eiect a stepwise drive increment thereof equal to one tray carrier pitch Whenever a tray is in position to be picked up by the elevator conveyor, counting means responsive to each of said elevator conveyor drive increments to count and total tbe number of trays fed to the elevator conveyor and means associated with said counting means for actuating ejector means to eject a stack of trays from the stacking apparatus when the counting means has counted and totalled a number or" trays equal to tbe predetermined number of trays to form a complete stack.

"ille invention also consists in means for eecting and controlling the building up of a stack of trays in a starch tray stacldng apparatus of the type indicated comprising means for driving the elevator conveyor m tray pitch steps, means for counting the number of trays fed to tbe elevator conveyor, means actuated by said counting means for operating the ejector means after tbe predetermined number of trays constituting a complete stack have been fed to t'ne elevator means, phasing means, put into operation when restarting the apparatus aiter a slant-down, for running the elevator conveyor empty until counting means is a position o x tray counts before actuation thereby or" the ejector means, Where x equals the total number of trays which can be in transit between the point or" transfer from the feed conveyor to the elevator corr veyor and the level of the top of a complete stack of trays, and means for restoring normal operation of the apparatus, the arrangement being suela that the operation oi the phasing means, prior to normal running, llas ensured taat tbe ejector means operate in pbase with the proper build-up or" tray stacks of tbe correct predetermined height only.

in tbe accompanying drawings:

FGURE l is a side elevation of a tray stacking apparatus, or" tbe type indicated, having operation control means according to the present invention,

FIGURE 2 is a sectional side elevation of a principal part of tbe operation control means, according to the present invention,

PGURE 3 is a sectional elevation taken at right angies to tbe View shown in FIGURE 2,

FEGURES 4a to d are successive diagrams showing the operation of a tray stacking apparatus Without the operation control means according to the present invention,

FGURES 5a to c are diagrams showing the initial stages of the operation of tray stacking apparatus With operation control means according to the present invention, and

FiGURES 6a to b are diagrams showing the iinal stage of the operations shown in FGURES 5a to c.

Before describing in detail the mechanism, according to the present invention, by which the stacking apparatus can be re-pliased after a shut down, the problem for which tbe present invention `provides a solution will be discussed with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings, HGURES l, Llai-ai, Save and 6a and b,

3 so that the operation of the phasing mechanism may be more easily understood.

Describing the general `arrangement of a stacking machine of the type mentioned previously, see FIGURE` l, a continuously moving feed conveyor 1 carries trays 2 from a depositor (not shown) in the direction of the arrow 3 to a transfer station 4 whereat the trays are picked up in turn by ran intermittently driven elevator conveyor 5.

The elevator conveyor consists, for example, of two spaced chains (not shown) between which the trays 2 pass on entering the transfer station 4 and the chains of the levator conveyor 5 carry opposed pairs of tray carriers, known per se, and indicated at 6, the tray carriers 6 being spaced around the elevator conveyor 5 at equal pitches. The elevator conveyor E lifts the trays 2 as they are picked up by the carriers 6 and passes them around a top turning point 7, comprising spaced large diameter sprocket wheels 3. The trays 2 are then carried on a downward path 9 towards a platform 19 constituting a stacking zone at which the stack of trays is built up; a partially built stack 11 of six trays is shown on the platform iti'. The trays 2 are deposited one by one on the stack lvl as the elevator conveyor 5 carries the trays past the top of the growing stack, the tray carriers 6 being of the known type which automatically release the trays as the trays are arrested on top of the stack. After passing the stacking zone, indicated by the bracket '12, being the full height of a comple-ted stack, the elevator conveyor 5 and the tray carriers 6 thereon pass around turning point sprockets t3 and le back to the vertical path l5 leading to and past the transfer station ai.

T he drive for the feed conveyor 1 and the elevator conveyor 5 is derived from an electric motor 16 through a belt drive i7 to a pulley `18 on the input shaft 19 of gear box Ztl (illustrated in detail in FIGURES 2 and 3 and described hereinafter) which has a continuously driven output sprocket wheel 2l which drives the feed conveyor l through the chain drive 22 and sprocket wheels 23 and 24, and an intermittently driven sprocket wheel 25 which drives the elevator conveyor 5 intermittently in steps or increments each equal to the pitch between successive tray carriers 6 through a chain drive 27 and a sprocket wheel 23 connected to the shaft 29 of the elevator conveyor sprocket wheels S, the chain drive -27 including a number of tensioning and adjustment sprocket wheels 3l), 31, 32 and 33.

As each tray 2 enters the transfer station l, it actuates a sensing means comprising a trip lever 34 and a microswitch 3S which in turn, initiates in a manner described hereafter a one step drive of the sprocket wheel 25 from the gear box 2t? so that the elevator conveyor 5 moves one carrier pitch to pick up the waiting tray 2 and carry it upwards out of the transfer station 4; at the same time any tray carrier 6 carrying a tray past the top of the stack ll deposits the tray on top of the stack and passes on empty.

As will be described hereafter, the gear box 26 also counts the trays 2 as each tray enters the transfer station 4 and actuates the trip lever 34 and when a total number of trays have been counted which makes up a stack lll of the desired total height .112, say, 4t) trays, the gear box 2t? operates an ejector mechanism, indicated at 36, WlL'ch pushes the completed stack 11 over the platform lll, which has a system of rollers 37 on which the lowermost tray rests, and out of the stacking Zone yl2 for onward conveying to the drier (not shown).

The ejector mechanism 35 consists of a pusher rod 3S which engages the tray stack at its lowermost tray, a pivoted arm 39 to which the pusher rod 33 is connected and a connecting rod itl coupled to the pivoted arm 39 at a point il spaced from its pivot 42 and to a crank 43 carried on an output drive shaft 44 of the gear box Ztl, the drive of which is described hereafter. One rot-ation d of the shaft 44 and crank i3 causes the ejector mechanism 36 to experience a complete forward and backward reciprocation in the course of which the end of the pusher rod 3S pushes the stack lof trays out of the stacking Zone l2.

Thus the next tray 2 on the elevator conveyor 5 4which had not reached the top of the stack at the moment of stack ejection will form the beginning of a fresh stack.

The operation of a stacking apparatus, as described above, will now be described in respect of shutting down the apparatus, eg. at the end of a day, and restarting the apparatus, reference being made to FIGURES 4a to d representing what would happen in a conventional or unmodied apparatus, and the resultant disadvantages.

FlGURE 4a represents a situation which might commonly occur at shut down, 25 trays having been built up into a partial stack ll at the time the depositor and other ancillary devices are brought to a halt. Five trays are in transit on the elevator conveyor 5 above the stack and these are incorporated by manually moving or inching the elevator conveyor 5 so that the final stack consists of 25-i-5 trays, equals 30 trays, i.e. ten trays short of a full stack, which for purposes of illustration will be assumed to be 40 trays. The partial stack of 30 trays is then manually ejected and passed on to the drier.

On restarting there will be no trays on the stack andino trays on the elevator conveyor 5 and as soon as trays are fed to the transfer station 4 the elevator conveyor 5 starts up its stepwise movement and each tray is counted as described above, the counting mechanism having already counted 3l) trays at the time of the previous shut down. Thus, when l0 trays have been fed into the elevator c011- veyor 5 the ejection mechanism will operate automatically and eject the stacked trays. However, at that time only 3 trays will have been stacked as shown in FGURE 4b, the remaining 7 trays fed irrto the elevator conveyor 5 still being in transit. The 3 tray stack is therefore ejected and a new stack commences to be built, but since three trays were in transit in the stacking zone l2 at the time of the ejection of the previous stack and since the counting mechanism will restart to count a new total of 40 trays fed to the elevator conveyor before the next ejection takes places, the new stack will build up to 3 plus 40 trays equal 43 trays before being ejected, see FIGURE 4c. Such an oversize stack may cause dislocation or hindrance to the operation of the plant e.g. due to the next tray on the elevator conveyor fouling the top of the stack before or during ejection and/or due to the stack having to be manually diminished or, failing that, fouling the drier.

After this over-size stack has been built and dealt with,

the operation of the machine will be normal, since at the time of the last ejection no unstacked trays were in the stacking zone l2, see FIGURE 4d, and the next 4() trays fed to the elevator conveyor 5 will be counted and ejection will take place correctly. The four trays in transit, see

FIGURE 4d, at the time of ejection do not atect the counting and stack building as although they will form the first four trays of the new stack, the last four trays of the forty counted into the elevator conveyor will themselves be in transit when the new stack is completed and ejected.

ln order to overcome this disadvantage, mechanism is t both ring members Si and 52 are constantly rotating whilethe apparatus is in operation.

The ring member 51 is carried on a tubular shaft 53V which passes through the casing 54 of the gearbox 2l) and provides the drive and mounting for the above mentioned sprocket wheel 2l which drives the feed conveyor l through the chain drive Z2. The sprocket wheel 2l, and therefore the feed conveyor l, are in this Way constantly driven.

The intermittent drive to the elevator conveyor S is also derived from the constant rotation of the ring member Si and to this end the sprocket wheel 2S which drives the elevator conveyor 5 through the chain drive 27 is carried on the end 5S of a shaft 56 which passes through the interior of the tubular shaft 53 and is rotated independently thereof. The shaft S6 carries at its inner end a bracket member 57 having a central boss 58 which is co-axial with the shaft Se and a transverse open channel 59 therethrough. In the channel 59 a pivotal pavvl @il is located on a pivot shaft di which passes through the bracket member 57 and carries externally or" the bracket member 57 a control arm 62, A compression spring e3 urges the payvl d in a direction radially outward or" the shaft S6, but movement of the pawl di) is restrained by contact of the control arm 62 with a displaceable stop post 64 carried on casing 54 of the gearbox.

The ring member 5f. has secured concentrically thereto an internally toothed elevator ratchet annulus 55 which roates constantly with the ring member Sl, so that on momentary retraction of the stop post 4- out of Contact with the control arm 62, the pavvl oil is urged by the spring 63 into engagement with the elevator ratchet arinulus 65 so that the rotation of the elevator ratchet annulus o5' is coupled to the shaft Se. Thus, the shaft Se completes one rotation, thereby driving the elevator conveyor 5 one step equal to the pitch between one tray carrier 6 and the next, and then stops due to the stop post 642 re-engagmg the control arm 62 to cause the pavvl 6l? to pivot out of engagement with the elevator ratchet annulus 65.

The retraction of the stop post is effected in timed relationship with the arrival of a tray on the feed conveyor 1 at the transfer station l and to this end the above mentioned trip lever 3d and micro-switch 35 when actuated by a tray energises a solenoid 66 (see FGURE l) which is coupled to the stop post 64 and retracts it momentarily to free the pawl control arm 62 as described above.

In order to count the trays as they are transferred from the feed conveyor t to the elevator conveyor 5, the gearbox Ztl also includes the counting mechanism to which allusion has previously been made and with this counting mechanism is also associated the actuation of the ejector mechanism 36 previously mentioned.

The ejector mechanism drive shaft 44 which carries on its end 57 the aforementioned crank 43 passes through a bearing 63a in the casing 54 of the gearbox 2b and has secured thereto a bracket member 68, similar to the bracket member 57 on the shaft 56. The bracket member 68 has a circular boss 69 on which the previously mentioned second externally gear toothed ring member S2 is journalled so as to rotate, bythe continuous drive from the Worm 5t?, independently of the bracket member Si? and shaft 44.

The bracket member is formed, similarly to the bracket member 57, with a transverse channel 7d in which a pivotal pawl 7l is located on a pivot shaft 7?. which passes through the bracket member 63 and carries externally of the bracket member 63 a control Aarrn 73. A compre ion spring 7d urges the pawl 7l in a direction radially outward of the shaft 44, but movement of the pawl 7l is restrained by contact of the control arm 73 with a displaceable stop lever 75 pivotally carried on the casing 54 of the gear box.

The ring member 52 has secured concentrically thereto an internally toothed ejector ratchet annulus 76 which rotates constantly with the ring member 52, so that, on momentary 'retraction of the stop lever 7S out of contact with the control 73 (in the circumstances described hereafter), `the pawl 7l is urged by the spring 74 into engagement With the ejector ratchet annulus 76 so that the rotation of the ejector ratchet annulus 76 is coupled to the shaft 4a. Tous, the shaft 44 completes one rotation, thereby driving the ejector mechanism 36 by the crank 43 through one fonvvard and backward reciprocatory ejection movement, and then stops due to the stop lever re-engaging the control arm 73 to cause the paWl 7l to pivot out of engagement with the ejector ratchet annulus 76.

Since an ejection operation is required each time a stack of trays reaches its predetermined height, e.g. 40 trays high, it is 'necessary to count the nurnber of trays passed to the elevator conveyor 5 `from the feed conveyor 1 yat the transfer station d, which number under normal Working will also represent the number of trays stacked, and then when the predetermined stack total of trays have been transferred to cause the ejector mechanism 36 to be operated as Idescribed above by retraction of the stop lever 75 at the appronriate moment.

To effect this counting the shaft 44 carries freely thereon a circular counting member 77 having a circumferentially extending series of equally spaced ratchet teeth 7S the total number of which equals the predetermined number or" trays in a complete stack, i.e. for a forty tray stack, the counting member 77 has forty teeth. Also freely mounted on the shaft 44 adjacent the circular counting member 77 is a two-armed lever 79, one arm Si) of which carries a spring-loaded pavvl 8l in permanent contact with the counter member 77 and lthe other aum 32 of which is coupled by a link 83 to an eccentric 84 on the boss 5e of the bracket 57 on the elevator dnive shaft 56. Thus on each occasion that the elevator drive shaft S6 is driven around one rotation the two-armed lever 79 is caused to oscillate one forward and backward movement on the shaft ed, by the operation of the eccentric S4 and link 83, md in so doing the pawl 8l moves the counting member 77 incrementally rou d by one tooth 7S thereby counting one tray transfer. Counter-rotation of the counting member 77 is prevented by a spring loaded pawl 85 mounted on the casing 54 of the gear box. Secured to the counting member 77 is trip lever en which moves round with the counting member 77 as the latter experiences its tooth-by-tooth, incremental rotation and counts the number of trays transferred (and hence, normally, the numb er of trays stacked). When the 39th tray has been counted, the tip 37 of the trip lever 86 is very close Ito, or just in contact with, a post 88 projecting from the side of the stop lever 75, so that as soon as the 40th tray has been counter i.e. the counting member 77 has made its 40th tooth movement the tri-p lever 86 is moved past the post SS on the stop lever 75 and in so doing retracts the stop lever '7S so that the control arm '73 is freed to allow the pawl 7l to engage in the ejector ratchet annulus 76 and so cause the shaft 4dto be driven round one revolution to effect a full movement of the ejector mechanism 36 to eject the stack of trays from the stacking apparatus. By the time the bracket 68, pawl 7l and control arm 73 have completed one revolution the stop lever 75 again engages the control arm 73 wmch disengages the pawl 7l from the ejector ratchet annulus 76 so that drive of the ejector drive shaft 44 ceases.

The above counting mechanism is satisfactory during normal running of the stacking apparatus, but in order to effect the proper lphasing of the counting mechanism with the correct build-up of the first full stack of trays after a shut `down as already discussed, there is also secured to the counting member 77 a radially extending phasing striker arm 3?, the tip 99' Vof which moves with the rotation of the counting member 77 in an orbit which intersects the head 9i of an axially displaceable control rod 92., so that the control rod 92 is moved upwardly (as viewed in FIGURE 2) when the tip 9b of the striker arm 3% comes int-o engagement with the head 9i of the control rod 92. Displacement of the control rod 92 Vcauses a bell crank lever 93 (see FGURES 1, 2 and 3) to pivot `and opens a normally closed micro-switch 94 (see FGURE 1 only) which however is only used (i.e. is only in the control circuit) durinU a phasing operation as will be described hereafter. The angular position of the phasing striker arm 39 relative to the trip lever 36 is such that when the striker arm 89 actuates the microswitch 94, the tip 87 of the trip lever S6 is exactly x number of the teeth 7 8 of the counting member 77 before the point at which the tip 87 of the trip lever S6 will operate the stop lever 7S to cause an ejection operation, where x is the number of trays (or tray carriers 6) which can be in transit between the transfer station i and the top of a full stack (i.e. in the present example 96:4).

in order to set the apparatus to carry out a phasing operation, a manual control switch 9e' is provided with a control knob 96 which can set the switch 95 either `for Running (i.e. normal running as described above, in which the micro-switch 35 is operative and the microswitch 94 inoperative) or for Phasing in which the micro-switch 3S of the sensing means is disabled and the micro-switch 94 is operative. When the switch 95 -is turned to Phasing, three conditions are established: (1) the main drive to the master or mogul machine (molding and casing machine of known type) and the depositor is discontinued so that no trays are delivered to the feed conveyor 1; (2) switch 3S is isolated, as already mentioned so that the solenoid 66 controlling, through the stop post 64, the drive engagement between the rotating elevator ratchet annulus Sil and the elevator drive shaft Se, is no longer operated by trays engaging the trip lever 34 at the transfer station 4; and (3) the solenoid 66 is put into circuit with the normally closed micro-switch 94 so that the stop post 64 is kept retracted and, therefore, the elevator conveyor runs continuously until the micro-switch 94 is opened, as described, by the phasing striker arm S9 displacing the control rod 92 and bell-crank lever 93.

For the purpose of operating the ejector mechanism 36 manually when required, e.g. at shut-down, to eject a part-formed stack of trays, a plunger 97 is mounted in the casing 54 in contact with the stop lever 75 so as to pivot the latter and release the pawl 71. To facilitate using this manual trip, an operating rod 93 is connected to the plunger 97 and extends to the outside of the machine to be operated by a push button 99 or the like.

The operation and eifect of the phasing control mechanism described above will be more easily understood with reference to FIGURES 5a to c and FIGURES 6a to b, together with FGURES 1, 2 and 3.

Assuming at the time of shut-down of the plant, the same conditions apply as shown in FIGURE 4a and described previously, viz. a partial stack of trays has been completed and the remaining ve trays in transit are manually inched down on the elevator conveyor 5 on to the stack so that the partial stack then consists of 3() trays, which stack is manually ejected from the machine by operation of the push button 99 (FiGURE 1) to release the stop lever 75', then on restarting the stacking apparatus will be empty of trays as shown in FIGURE 5a. in the counting mechanism, however, the counting member 77 will only have experienced tooth movements (i.e. have only counted 30 trays), see diagram of FGURE 5b, where the arrow Se representing the trip lever 86 (FiG- URES 2 and 3) has just passed the 30th tooth.

To restart, the switch 95' is turned to Phasingf when only the motor le will be running (i.e. the depositor and other previous plant will not yet start) and the tray operated switch 3S will be inoperative and the phasing striker operated switch 94 operative to energise the solenoid e6 to retract the stop post 64 (FEGURE 2) so that the empty stacking conveyor 5 starts running continuously and the counting member 77 rotates tooth-by-tooth. When, however, the phasing striker arm 89 strikes the head 91 of the control rod 13, the switch 94 is opened so that the solenoid is de-energised and the stop post ed causes the pawl o@ to disengage from the elevator ratchet annulus 65 and the elevator conveyor 5 stops. rThis is shown in FEGURE 5c Where the arrow 8? represents the phasing striker arm E@ and the hatched square 91 represents the head 91 of the control rod 9.2. It will be een that the trip lever 86 is then 4 teeth away from the stop lever 75 represented by the hatched bar '75. The machine is now phased and the switch QS is turned to running so that when four trays have been fed on to the elevator conveyor 5 at the transfer station 4, see FIGURE 6a, the counting member has moved round four teeth so that the trip lever 86 engages the stop lever 75 (see FIGURE 6b) and displaces it so that the pawl 7l engages the eiection ratchet annulus 7o and an ejection movement of the ejector mechanism 36 takes place although there are no trays stacked.

As the feed of trays to the elevator conveyor 5 continues, the counting member 77 will proceed to countV forty trays before the ejector mechanism 36 operates again, so that a full stack of forty trays will next be ejected, i.e. correct running has been established.

l claim:

1. T ray stacking apparatus adapted to receive trays from a delivery means and arrange them in a stack having a predetermined number of such trays therein; said apparatus comprising means for receiving successive trays from said delivery means and conducting them to a stacking zone; sensing means actuated by each tray delivered to said receiving means; counting means normally connected to said sensing means and operable in response to operation of said sensing means to count each tray delivered to said receiving means; ejecting means at said stacking zone; means interconnecting said counting means and said ejecting means for operating the latter to eject a stack of trays in response to operation of said counting means a predetermined number of times; phasing means independent of said sensing means for operating said counting means; and means for disabling said sensing means and operating said phasing means to condition said counting means in phase with said ejecting means.

2. The apparatus set forth in claim 1 wherein said receiving means comprises a conveyor adapted to support a plurality of such trays in transit to said stacking zone, and means for driving said conveyor.

3. The apparatus set forth in claim 2 including clutch means connecting said driving means and said counting means for moving the latter in increments in response to driving of said conveyor.

4. The apparatus set forth in claim 3 wherein said counting means is rotatable and wherein the number ofV 6. Tray stacking apparatus adapted to receive trays from a delivery means and arrange them in a stack having a predetermined number of trays therein, said apparatus comprising a conveyor adapted to receive successiveV trays from said delivery means and transport them to a stacking Zone, said conveyor being capable of supporting in transit a number of trays simultaneously; sensingY means normaily actuated by each tray delivered to said conveyor; counting means; means mounting said counting means for incremental movements; means normally connecting said sensing means to said counting means for moving the latter an increment in response to actuation of said sensing means; ejecting means at said stacking zone; means interconnecting said counting means and said 9 i@ ejecting means for operating the latter to eject a stack of spending to the number of trays capable of being iii transit trays from said stacking zone in response to movement by said conveyor, for disabling said phasing means. of said counting means through a predetermined number of increments; phasing means independent of said sensing Refereiiees Cited in the le of this patent means adapted for connection to said counting means to 5 UNITED STATES PATENTS move the latter incrementally; means for disabling said sensing means and operating said phasing means; and 1,767,592 Km? June 24: 1930 means operated by said phasing means upon movement 22561170 CMU@ Dec' 16: 1941 of said counting means through said predetermined num- 2,535,753 Cuffie APT- 21, 1953 ber of increments, less the number of increments corre- 10 2,924,342 St. Jean Feb. 9, 1960 

1. TRAY STACKING APPARATUS ADAPTED TO RECEIVE TRAYS FROM A DELIVERY MEANS AND ARRANGE THEM IN A STACK HAVING A PREDETERMINED NUMBER OF SUCH TRAYS THEREIN; SAID APPARATUS COMPRISING MEANS FOR RECEIVING SUCCESSIVE TRAYS FROM SAID DELIVERY MEANS AND CONDUCTING THEM TO A STACKING ZONE; SENSING MEANS ACTUATED BY EACH TRAY DELIVERED TO SAID RECEIVING MEANS; COUNTING MEANS NORMALLY CONNECTED TO SAID SENSING MEANS AND OPERABLE IN RESPONSE TO OPERATION OF SAID SENSING MEANS TO COUNT EACH TRAY DELIVERED TO SAID RECEIVING MEANS; EJECTING MEAN AT SAID STACKING ZONE; MEANS INTERCONNECTING SAID COUNTING MEANS AND SAID EJECTING MEANS FOR OPERATING THE LATTER TO EJECT A STACK OF TRAYS IN RESPONSE TO OPERATION OF SAID COUNTING MEANS A PREDETERMINED NUMBER OF TIMES; PHASING MEANS INDEPENDENT OF SAID SENSING MEANS FOR OPERATING SAID COUNTING MEANS; AND MEANS FOR DISABLING SAID SENSING MEANS AND OPERATING SAID PHASING MEANS TO CONDITION SAID COUNTING MEANS IN PHASE WITH SAID EJECTING MEANS. 